Nepal: Ten years on, relatives want to know the fate of those missing

Submitted by editor on Mon, 2016-08-29 08:01

Nepal: Ten years on, relatives want to know the fate of those missing

Kathmandu (ICRC/NRCS) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) and the National Network of Families of Disappeared and Missing Nepal (NEFAD) will mark the Day of the Disappeared on 29th August 2016—one day ahead of the globally acknowledged “International Day of the Disappeared” (IDD), traditionally held on 30th August.

The activities to be held are the public release of the updated list of missing persons, the presentation of a documentary and the launch of a photobook. The updated list of the missing, containing 1,334 missing persons, is contained in the 9th edition of a publication titled Missing Persons in Nepal: Update list 2016. The publication of this list by both the ICRC and the NRCS has been an annual event since 2007 and is also available on the ICRC’s website www.familylinks.icrc.org

The documentary to be publicly screened-The Doll’s Funeral- illustrates the emotional journey of a mother visiting the place where her daughter was last seen, and reveals the final rites performed by the family as a culmination of the mourning of their loss.

The photobook to be launched-Commemorating the Missing- documents the commemoration by families of the missing in Nepal of their loss within the framework of a comprehensive ICRC psycho-social programme called Hateymalo.

“We hope that the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will invest every effort to give the victims and the families the long-awaited answers on the fate of their loved ones, as provided for in the International Humanitarian Law, and address other needs they express,” said Andre Paquet, head of the ICRC mission in Kathmandu.

Those expected to attend the event are members of the families of the missing, over 150 persons representing government and non-governmental agencies, security forces, civil society organizations, the media and Red Cross volunteers.

The ICRC is an impartial, neutral, and independent organisation whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence, and to provide them with assistance. In Nepal, the ICRC assists the government and all parties to the past conflict to fulfil their obligations in clarifying the fate and whereabouts of missing persons.